DEUTERONOMY, Section 1 of 6. (Deut. 1 - 3).
C H Mackintosh
INTRODUCTION.
The character of the book on which we now enter it quite as distinct as that of any of
the four preceding sections of the Pentateuch. Were we to judge from the title of the
book, we might suppose that it is a mere repetition of what we find in previous books.
This would be a very grave mistake, There is no such thing as mere repetition in the
word of God. Indeed God never repeats Himself, either in His word or in His works.
Wherever we trace our God, whether on the page of holy scripture, or in the vast
fields of creation, we see divine fullness, infinite variety, marked design; and, just in
proportion to our spirituality of mind, will be our ability to discern and appreciate
these things. Here, as in all beside, we need the eye anointed with heavenly eye-salve.
What a poor idea must the man entertain of inspiration who could imagine, for a
moment, that the fifth book of Moses is a barren repetition of what is to be found in
Exodus, Leviticus; and Numbers! Why, even in a human composition, we should not
expect to find such a flagrant imperfection, much less in the perfect revelation which
God has so graciously given us in His holy word. The fact is, there is not, from cover
to cover of the inspired volume, a single superfluous sentence, not one redundant
clause, not one statement without its own distinct meaning, its own direct application.
If we do not see this, we have yet to learn the depth, force and meaning of the words,
"All scripture is given by inspiration of God."
Precious words! Would they were more thoroughly understood in this our day! It is of
the utmost possible importance that the Lord's people should be rooted, grounded and
settled in the grand truth of the plenary inspiration of holy scripture. It is to be feared
that laxity as to this most weighty subject is spreading in the professing church to an
appalling extent. In many quarters it has become fashionable to pour contempt upon
the idea of plenary inspiration. It is looked upon as the veriest childishness and
ignorance. It is regarded by many as a great proof of profound scholarship, breadth of
mind, and original thinking to he able, by free criticism, to find out flaws in the
precious volume of God. Men presume to sit in judgment upon the Bible as though it
were a mere human composition. they undertake to pronounce upon what is, and what
is not, worthy of God. In fact they do, virtually, sit in judgement upon God Himself.
The present result is, as might be expected, utter darkness and confusion, both for
those learned doctors themselves, and for all who are so foolish as to listen to them.
And as for the future, who can conceive the eternal destiny of all those who shall have
to answer before the judgement seat of Christ for the sin of blaspheming the word of
God, and leading hundreds astray by their infidel teaching?
We shall not, however, occupy time in commenting upon the sinful folly of infidels
and sceptics—even though called Christians—or their puny efforts to cast dishonour
upon that peerless volume which our gracious God has caused to be written for our
learning. They will, some day or other, find out their fatal mistake. God grant it may
not be too late! And as for us, let it be our deep joy and consolation to meditate upon
the word of God, that so we may ever be discovering some fresh treasure in that
exhaustless mine, some new moral glories in that heavenly revelation!
The Book of Deuteronomy holds a very distinct place in the inspired canon. Its
opening lines are sufficient to prove this. "These be the words which Moses spake
unto all Israel on this side Jordan, in the wilderness, in the plain over against the Red
Sea, between Paran, and Tophel, and Laban, and Hazeroth, and Dizahab."
Thus much as to the place in which the lawgiver delivered the contents of this
marvellous book. The people had come up to the eastern bank of the Jordan, and were
about to enter upon the land of promise. Their desert wanderings were nearly ended,
as we learn from the third verse in which the point of time is as distinctly marked, as
is the Geographical position in verse 1. "It came to pass in the fortieth year, in the
eleventh month, on the first day of the month, that: Moses spake unto the children of
Israel according unto all that the Lord had given him in commandment unto them."
Thus, not only have we both time and place set forth with divine precision and
minuteness, but we also learn, from the words just quoted, that the communications
made to the people, in the plains of Moab, were very far indeed from being a
repetition of what has come before us in our studies on the books of Exodus,
Leviticus and Numbers. Of this we have further and very distinct proof in a passage in
Deuteronomy 29. "These are the Words of the covenant which the Lord commanded
Moses to make with the children of Israel in the land of Moab, beside the covenant
which he made with them at Horeb."
Let the reader note, particularly, these words. They speak of two covenants, one at
Horeb, and one in Moab; and the latter, so far from being a mere repetition of the
former, is as distinct from it as any two things can be. Of this we shall have the fullest
and clearest evidence in our study of the profound book which now lies open before
us.
True, the Greek title of the book, signifying the law a second time, might seem to give
rise to the idea of its being a mere recapitulation of what has gone before; but we may
rest assured it is not so. Indeed it would be a very gave error to think so. The book has
its own specific place. Its scope and object are as distinct as possible. The grand
lesson which it inculcates from first to last, is obedience, and that, too, not in the mere
letter, but in the spirit of love, and fear-an obedience grounded upon a known and
enjoyed relationship—an obedience quickened by the sense of moral obligations of
the weightiest and most influential character.
The aged lawgiver, the faithful, beloved and honoured servant of the Lord was about
to take leave of the congregate He was going to heaven and they were about to cross
the Jordan; and hence his closing discourses are solemn and affecting in the very
highest degree. He reviews the whole of their wilderness history, and that, too, in a
manner most touching and impressive. He recounts the scenes and circumstances of
their forty eventful years of desert life, in a style eminently calculated to touch the
deepest moral springs of the heart. We hang over these most precious discourses with
wonder and delight. They possess an incomparable charm arising from the
circumstances under which they were delivered, as well as from their own divinely
powerful contents. They speak to us no less effectively!- than to those for whom they
were specially intended. Many of the appeals and exhortations come home to us with
a power of application as if they had keen uttered but yesterday.
And is it not thus with all scripture? Are we not continually struck with its marvellous
power of adaptation to our own very state, and to the day in which our lot is cast? It
speaks to us with a point and freshness as if it were written expressly for us—written
this very day. There is nothing like scripture. Take any human writing: of the same
date as the Book of Deuteronomy; if you could lay your hand on some volume written
three thousand years ago, what would you find? A curious relic of antiquity,
something to be placed in the British Museum, side by side with an Egyptian mummy,
having no application whatever to us or to our time, a musty document, a piece of
obsolete writing, practically useless to us, referring only to a state of society and to a
condition of things long since passed away and buried in oblivion.
The Bible, on the contrary, is the Book for today. It is God's own Book, His perfect
revelation. It is His Own very voice speaking to each one of us. It is a Book for every
age, for every clime, for every class, for every condition, high and low, rich and poor,
learned and ignorant, old and young. It speaks in a language so simple that a child can
understand it; and yet so profound that the most gigantic intellect cannot exhaust it.
Moreover, it speaks right home to the heart; it touches the deepest springs of our
moral being; it goes down to the hidden roots of thought and feeling in the soul; it
judges as thoroughly. In a word, it is, as the inspired apostle tells us, "Quick and
powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing
asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the
thoughts and intents of the heart." (Heb. 4: 12.)
And then mark the marvellous comprehensiveness of its range. It deals as accurately
and as forcibly with the habits and customs, the manners and maxims of the
nineteenth century of the Christian era as with those of the very earliest ages of
human existence. It displays a perfect acquaintance with man, in every stage of his
history The London of today, and the Tyre of three thousand years ago are mirrored,
with like precision and faithfulness, on the sacred page. Human life, in every stage of
its development, is portrayed by a master hand, in that wonderful volume which our
God has graciously penned for our learning.
What a privilege to possess such a book!—to have in our hands a divine
Revelation!—to have access to a Book, every line of which is given by inspiration of
God!—to have a divinely given history of the past, the present, and the future! Who
can estimate aright such a privilege as this?
But then, this Book judges man—judges his ways—judges his heart. It tells him the
truth about himself. Hence man does not like God's Book. An unconverted man would
vastly prefer a newspaper or a sensational novel to the Bible. He would rather read the
report of a trial in one of our criminal courts, than a chapter in the New Testament.
Hence, too, the constant effort to pick holes in God's blessed Book. Infidels, in every
age and of every class, have laboured hard to find out flaws and contradictions in holy
scripture. The determined enemies of the word of God are to be found, not only in the
ranks of the vulgar, the coarse and the demoralised, but amongst the educated, the
refined and the cultivated. Just as it was in the days of the apostles, "Certain lewd
fellows of the baser sort," and "Devout and honourable women" Two classes so far
removed from each other, socially and morally—found one point in which they could
heartily agree, namely, the utter rejection of the word of God and of those who
faithfully preached it (compare Acts 13: 50, with 17: 5.) So we ever find that men
who differ in almost everything else agree in their determined opposition to the Bible.
Other books are let alone. Men care not to point out defects in Virgil, in Horace, in
Homer or Herodotus; but the Bible they cannot endure because it exposes them and
tells them the truth about themselves and the world to which they belong.
And was it not exactly the same with the living word—the Son of God, the Lord Jesus
Christ when He was here among men? Men hated Him because He told them the
truth. His ministry, His words, His way's, His whole life was a standing testimony
against the world; hence their hitter and persistent opposition: other men were
allowed to pass on; but He was watched and waylaid at every turn of His path. The
great leaders and guides of the people "sought to entangle him in His talk;" to find
occasion against Him in order that they might deliver Him to the power and authority
of the governor. Thus it was, during His marvellous life; and, at the close, when the
blessed One was nailed to the cross between two malefactors, these latter were let
alone; there were no insults hurled upon them; the chief priests and elders did not wag
their heads at them. No; all the insults, all the mockery, all the coarse and heartless
vulgarity—all was heaped upon the divine occupant Of the centre cross.
Now, it is well we should thoroughly understand the real source of all the opposition
to the word of God-whether it be the living Word or the written word. It will enable
us to estimate it at its real worth. The devil hates the word of God—hates it with a
perfect hatred; and hence he employs learned infidels to write books to prove that the
Bible is not the word of God, that it cannot be, inasmuch as there are mistakes and
discrepancies in it; and not only so, but, in the Old Testament, we find laws and
institutions, habits and practices unworthy of a gracious and benevolent Being!
To all this style of argument we have one brief and pointed reply; of all these learned
infidels we simply say, They know nothing whatever about the matter. They may be
very learned, very clever, very deep and original thinkers, well made up in general
literature, very competent to give an opinion on any subject within the domain of
natural and moral philosophy, very able to discuss any scientific question. Moreover,
they may be very amiable in private life, truly estimable characters, kind, benevolent,
philanthropic, beloved in private and respected in public. All this they may be, but,
being unconverted, and not having the Spirit of God, they are wholly unfit to form,
much less to give, a judgement on the subject of holy scripture. If any one wholly
ignorant of astronomy were to presume to sit in judgement on the principles of the
Copernican system, these very men of whom we speak would, at once, pronounce
him utterly incompetent to speak, and unworthy to be heard on such a subject, In
short, no one has any right whatever to offer an opinion on a matter with which he is
unacquainted. This is an admitted principle on all hands; and therefore its application
in the case now before as cannot justly he called in question.
Now, the inspired apostle tells us, in his first epistle to the Corinthians, that, "The
natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness unto
him; neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned." This is
conclusive. He speaks of man in his natural state, be he ever so learned, ever so
cultivated. He is not speaking of any special class of men; but simply of man in his
unconverted state, man destitute of the Spirit of God. Some may imagine that the
apostle refers to man in a state of barbarism, or savage ignorance. By no means; it is
simply man in nature, be he a learned philosopher or an ignorant clown. " He cannot
know the things of the Spirit of God." How then can he form or give a judgement as
to the word of God? How can he take it upon him to say what is, or what is not worthy
of God to write? And if he is audacious enough to do so—as alas! he is—who will be
foolish enough to listen to him? His arguments are baseless; his theories worthless;
his books only fit for the waste paper basket. And all this, be it observed, on the
universally admitted principle above stated, that no one has any title to be heard on a
subject of which he is wholly ignorant.
In this way we dispose of the whole tribe of infidel writers. Who would think of
listening to a blind man on the subject of light and shades And yet such a man has
much more claim to be heard than an unconverted man on the subject of inspiration.
Human learning, however extensive and varied; human wisdom, however profound,
cannot qualify a man to form a judgement upon the word of God. No doubt, a scholar
may examine and collate MSS. simply as a matter of criticism; he may be able to
form a judgement as to the question of authority for any particular reading of a
passage; but this is a different matter altogether from an infidel writer undertaking to
pronounce judgement upon the Revelation which God has, in His infinite goodness,
given to us. We maintain that no man can do this. It is only by the Spirit who Himself
inspired the holy scriptures that those scriptures can be understood and appreciated.
The word of God must be received upon its own authority. If man can judge it or
reason upon it, it is not the word of God at all. Has God given us a Revelation or has